The Economics of Imperialism

by Michael Barratt Brown

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 1975

Reviews

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent comprehensive and critical review of past and (almost) present economic theories of Imperialism: (Neoliberal, Keynesian and Marxian. The concluding chapter is most interesting because of its datedness (published in 1974). His descriptions of the projections of future global economic developments by the three most influential schools of economic policy are most instructive of the failure of each in detecting the immanent fall of the Soviet Union, the quick rise and equally quick fall of the global economic hegemony of the US (and the concomitant relative decline of the European and Japanese competitors to US capitalism), and the rise of PRC as a viable competitor to American dominance of the world market. Indeed, though dated, the conclusions are helpful in explicating in part, the subsequent changes in the balance of political economic power over the last 30+ years.